Bermuda Triangle
by Kraven Ergeist
Summary: Tenenbaum contacts Eleanor after she escapes from Rapture, and she sends a familiar face to help her. But Eleanor's mother is determined to retake Rapture, and has managed to strand them both in the Bermuda Triangle. Jack x Eleanor :: CH 3 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

**Bioshock Fan Fiction**

**Bermuda Triangle**

By Kraven Ergeist

A/N: Takes place after Bioshock 2. Assumes good endings from both games.

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

When Brigid Tenenbaum reached the surface after Delta had facilitated her and the Little Sisters' escape, Jack Ryan had been waiting for her in a seaplane. He had taken her and the little ones she had with her to Bermuda, where they boarded a steamship to take them to New York City, where she owned and ran a large orphanage as part of Saint Andrew's Hospital. There, she and a team of trusted doctors studied and researched methods of reversing the ill effects of Adam and safely removing it from the girls' systems without causing them to suffer from withdrawal.

No sooner than she arrived at the hospital did she receive a telegram from her friend at the University, a seismologist who she had asked to keep tabs on geological activity in the North Atlantic. The telegram informed her of a significant quake registered in the area, something that suggested non-natural occurrences.

She was on the radio in moments.

* * *

Eleanor didn't really have a plan once she had reached the surface, but she wasn't very concerned either. Mostly, she was simply happy to feel the sun on her skin at last, to feel fresh air and cool wind, to hear the sound of seagulls and the crashing waves against the floating escape craft.

Lined with buoys, the vessel she and the other little girls rode in floated aimlessly on the surface of the water. Its engines had failed in the explosion, and the craft now only served as a flotation device. She had her father's memories, however, and she was hardly a novice when it came to steam powered engines, so she was confident that she could somehow find a way to restart the engines.

But for now, she was content to simply bask in the sun and have the wind dry her damp hair. Her life had been nothing less than a nightmare these past few years, so for her to finally be able to relax…

"Eleanor…" one of the Little Sisters stood next to her, holding out the Big Sister helmet she had discarded on the deck without any thought of keeping track of it. It was crackling with static, as a strange sound echoed from within its bronze confines, and it took Eleanor a short while before she realized it must be the radio transceiver in her helmet.

Urgently, but cautiously, she accepted the helmet, sliding it into place on her head, letting it rest there without refastening the seal.

"-can read me, please respond! I repeat, if anyone can read me, please respond!"

"Who is this?" Eleanor voiced into the microphone, sounding suspicious. The voice…it wasn't her mother. Her mother lay confined inside the cabin of the submersible they rode, bound and gagged. She glanced inside the porthole to confirm her mother's incapacity. No, it wasn't her. This voice was in a thick German accent, and bore a certain urgency that suggested real concern.

"Hyello?" the voice sounded again. "This is Doctor Brigid Tenenbaum! To whom am I speaking?"

Eleanor had heard of Brigid Tenenbaum of course. Her mother had no shortage of disparaging things to say about the doctor who 'kidnapped' the children of her mother's 'family.' It seemed rather convenient, however, that this Tenenbaum would contact her so soon after surfacing. Then again, if she was who she claimed she was, she would probably have methods of keeping track of activity around the ocean over Rapture.

_Well_, she thought, _The enemy of my enemy_…

"My name is Eleanor," she said, simply. She would reveal as little information as possible until she knew all the stakes. It would not pay to be incautious, even if this Doctor Tenenbaum meant her well. She had her sisters to think of.

"Eleanor?" Tenenbaum's reaction was palpable, even over the radio. "You have escaped Rapture? What of Delta? And Doctor Lamb?"

Eleanor resented having information demanded of her, but this Tenenbaum might be of help. "I am stranded in a dive craft somewhere on the surface of the ocean over Rapture. I have a dozen Little Sisters with me, and no provisions to speak of. Mother is here with us…I have her detained. And father…"

She swallowed a pang of sadness.

"Father is dead."

"I see…" Tenenbaum's voice was hesitant. Saddened. "I am…sorry. But there will be time to grieve later. I am triangulating your coordinates with a friend of mine who is already en-route to come pick you up. His name is Jack Ryan. He is a friend. You can trust him."

Eleanor almost laughed. "Doctor…I hardly even trust you yet."

This seemed to annoy Tenenbaum. "Eleanor…I have spent the last year helping little ones escape from Rapture. Your own father helped me get away with the half dozen Sisters I have just taken to my orphanage in America. I owe him my life, and the life of my little ones. You are my responsibility, Eleanor, as are the other Little Sisters on that craft. I would never betray you."

Eleanor was not moved by her speech. "And all I have is your word on that. Until I see the truth of your words with my own eyes, I have no viable alternative but to remain cautious."

There was a pause. Eleanor noticed one of the Little Sisters clutching her by the leg, looking up at her with a worried expression at her elevated tone. Eleanor gently stroked her hair in hope of reassuring her.

"I understand," Tenenbaum finally said. "You are wise to be cautious. But as far as getting to shore is concerned, you really don't have any other option than to trust me."

"I have plenty of options," Eleanor countered. "I'm not so bad with a wrench, Fraulein Doctor. I could probably get this hunk of metal started again. Maybe use a little Adam to juice it up…"

"Eleanor…" Tenenbaum sounded exasperated, like she was dealing with a petulant child.

Well, Eleanor thought, let her be exasperated.

"Just wait until Jack lands, and see him with your own eyes, like you said" Tenenbaum continued. "If you decide you can't trust him, I will have him fly back home, and leave you and your sisters to your own devices. If as a result the little ones in your care die of hunger, or freeze to death…it will be on your head, Eleanor, not mine…"

Eleanor unconsciously shivered, clutching her arms against the chill. The sun was already going down, and some of the Little Sisters did look hungry. She could supplement them with a boost of her own Adam…but that wouldn't hold them for more than a few days.

Why was she putting up such resistance? What reason did she have to mistrust Doctor Tenenbaum? She wasn't in the habit of trusting adults, especially adult women. And while it was true that Tenenbaum may represent Eleanor's only reliable way to shore, if it turned out that her ambitions were the same as Mother's, or Frank Fontaine's, or Andrew Ryan's, then she was no better off then when she was in Rapture, and would simply be trading one slave master for another. And she was deeply tired of being under the heel of an adult who thought they knew better than she did, and controlled every facet of her life that they could in order to benefit themselves under the pretense of it being for 'the greater good' if not her own.

And this Jack Ryan…she had heard of him as well. The son of Andrew Ryan, raised in vitro and prematurely grown to adulthood in a scant few years, implanted with the same mind control measures her mother had tried to impose onto Eleanor. Eight years ago, he managed to put a stop to Fontaine's mad splicing and rescued the Little Sisters. He had escaped to the surface with Tenenbaum's help, so it made sense that the two of them would be working together.

But could he be trusted? Chances were, if one of the two could be trusted then so could the other. The only problem was she had met neither of them in her lifetime. Reputation alone did not make them trustworthy.

But no matter how she felt about either Tenenbaum or Jack, Tenenbaum was right in that she didn't have much of a choice. Even if she could get the engines started, she had nowhere to go. She had read enough about stars and constellations to be able to navigate on her own…but that was _if_ she knew where she was to begin with! At best, she would be dealing with rough estimates and guesswork.

So what it came down to was, was it safer to trust her life and the lives of her sisters to a pair of strangers with nothing but their reputation to go on, or her own untested, unproven and unconfident skills?

She plunked herself down on the deck. "How soon will this Jack be here?"

"He'll need to refuel in Bermuda, so it will take the whole night," Tenenbaum didn't sound confident, like she couldn't decide if Eleanor was asking how long she had to wait, or how long she had to make a getaway.

"Tell him to hurry it up," Eleanor huffed, feeling like she was giving up something. "It's getting rather cold out here."

"I will," Tenenbaum sounded relieved. Was it the relief of a concerned caretaker or of an ambitious woman who wouldn't have to lose a sizeable stock of resources?

Only time would tell.

"Stay dry, Eleanor, you'll keep warmer that way," she added.

"Thanks," Eleanor said, removing the helmet from her head. Already, it was starting to stink, but it was Tenenbaum's advice about keeping dry, not the odor, that made her remove it. The smell reminded her of her father, and now, as evening turned into night, and her sisters huddled around her, cold and afraid, she could have really used a father to keep them feeling warm and safe.

She lead the sister's back into the cabin – at least there, they would be safe from the elements should it decide to rain. She deposited her helmet, and her harpoon and syringe weapons on the floor, well out of reach of her still unconscious mother. Eleanor had tied her arms to a brass pipe that ran up the opposite side of the cabin so she couldn't easily escape, but she was taking no chances. After checking her mother's pulse to make sure she wasn't suffering from any ailment, Eleanor slid out of the soaking wet Big Sister suit, hanging it over one of the portholes to dry.

She sat down on the floor, shivering and naked, her back to the wall. Her sisters gathered around her, pressing their bodies together to stay warm. Eleanor spared her mother one last bitter look, before she slid her arms around two of the girls' waists, and felt the day's fatigue draw her eyelids shut, as she drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Eleanor awoke from eerie dreams of her mother holding her in her arms and telling her everything was alright, and feeling like she could believe her. She heard her mother's voice speaking in muffled tones. As vision came back to her, she saw her mother sitting, her arms still tied behind her back to the brass pipe, but her gag no longer in place. Despite her predicament and messy hair, she looked…comfortable. Pleasant even. She was smiling, and speaking with a warm expression to the Little Sisters gathered around her.

"You see, girls, Eleanor and I wanted to show you the world outside of Rapture, because the sun and the sky are too beautiful to only be seen by the tyrants who dwell here," she said in her most maternal voice. "You've seen it, haven't you? The beauty of Mother Earth?"

The Little Sisters nodded, giggling back and forth between each other.

Eleanor got shakily to her feet. "Girls…stay away from that woman!"

The Sisters exchanged glances, looking conflicted. Who were they supposed to trust?

Sofia Lamb, for her part, simply smiled wryly at Eleanor. "Is that any way to speak to your mother, Eleanor? And gracious me, put some clothes on young lady! You'll catch your death of cold!"

Eleanor felt stupid – while she didn't want to obey any command her mother gave her and perpetuate the feeling and illusion to the sisters of her still being subservient to Mother. But at the same time, she felt exposed, vulnerable, cold and weak.

Well, her feelings she could quench. Right now, in this head-butting contest between her and her mother, it was important that she remain strong.

A thought occurred to her.

"Spare me your concern _Mother, _the cold is the least of my worries," she raised a hand and clenched a fist as she tapped into the plasmid contained within her to generate fire. Heat filled the room as fire surrounded her arm, crackling with potential energy. The Little Sisters smiled at the display, more moved by the flow of Adam than from the fire itself.

"Put that out before you hurt someone," Lamb said, unmoved by the demonstration.

Eleanor's brow knit. "Let's not forget who the villain in this situation is, _Mother_. _You_ tried to kill me, _I_ was the one who saved your life."

Lamb smirked, maddeningly. It was all Eleanor could do not to strangle the woman. But no, her father's example held true in her heart. She would not raise a hand against mother, not unless she was threatened.

"As I remember it," Lamb said. "You were the one who tried to run away, and kidnap your sisters in the process. And now, thanks to you and your father, you and your sisters are stranded out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Now who is the real villain here?"

Eleanor's glare became fiercer. "You would keep us in Rapture against our wills! If you cared at all for our well being, you would let us see the surface for ourselves and make up our own minds! Instead, you lock us up and impose your ideals on us!"

Lamb waved her hand. "Nonsense…none of you were kept against your will. Girls, now that you've seen the surface, would you like to go home now?"

The Little Sisters' gazes fell on Lamb, and they began exchanging glances again.

"Go home?"

"Can we?"

"But Eleanor said we mustn't."

"Can we, Momma?"

Lamb only smiled at the girls (her sitting position tied to the pipe put her at eye level with them). "Why certainly, my children…we can release the air from the ballasts and be home before lunch. Of course… " she smiled at Eleanor, "Your sister Eleanor is a big girl now…she can stay here if she likes…"

Eleanor was speechless. Mother had already won the Sisters over. She had done it before to the citizens of Rapture, her deep understanding of people's minds allowing her to manipulate and brainwash them. Eleanor may be smart, but she didn't have her mother's charisma, her ability to persuade people to her cause. Of course, Mother knew Eleanor would never leave the girls with her, so the offer to allow Eleanor to stay on the surface was also a farce that allowed her to pretend to be lenient in the sisters' eyes.

Checkmate.

Eleanor nearly collapsed. Mother had beaten her again.

"Ahoy there!" a muffled voice sounded from outside. "Is anyone on board?"

Eleanor turned with a start, her plasmid going out in surprise. Had a passing ship stumbled upon their vessel? Stupefied, she yanked her now dry big sister suit from the porthole, revealing a sizeable seaplane idling besides their craft, and a man tying off a line between the two, the rising sun providing plenty of illumination for all to see.

When he climbed onto the diving craft, Eleanor recognized him. Of course! She had forgotten that Jack Ryan had been en route to give them a ride to shore! She recognized him from his portrait at Rapture, and while he bore a strong resemblance to the late Andrew Ryan, he was younger, and looked more like a soldier or a sailor than the businessman image that his father bore. He was not unattractive Eleanor decided, but he carried something…heavy within him.

She hadn't realized she was staring, and as he surveyed the submersible, he came upon the porthole through which she had been looking.

He peered closer, as if he didn't understand what he was seeing, and then very suddenly straightened up, eyes wide, and turned around.

"Oh!" he blurted, sounding embarrassed. "I, uh, didn't mean to intrude, Miss!"

Eleanor's face reddened as she suddenly realized she was still naked, and she clutched the big sister suit to herself, darting out of view. The Little Sisters giggled as Eleanor scrambled to dress, Mother simply rolling her eyes. A few seconds later, Eleanor opened the side hatch and stepped out, two or three Little Sisters peeking out from behind her to see this stranger.

The pilot, still looking flustered, offered a friendly wave. "Begging your pardon, Miss… Eleanor Lamb, I presume?"

Eleanor nodded her head, not trusting herself to speak, her ears still burning.

"Jack Ryan," the man tried to smile, but it was forced, done out of courtesy, not because he felt it. "It's an honor to finally meet you in person."

He offered his hand to shake. Eleanor did not offer hers.

"Umm…" Jack muttered awkwardly, looking around. "I was told Doctor Lamb was here as well…"

He paused as he felt someone tugging at his hand. He looked down and saw a Little Sister clutching his big hand in her tiny ones, looking up at him with a smile.

"Oh…" he smiled down at the girl, leaning down to look at her. "Hello there. Is this your big sister?"

The Little Sister looked at Eleanor and back at Jack, and nodded, giggling. She tugged on his hand, and Jack obliged her, letting her lead him past Eleanor through the hatch of the craft. Eleanor watched as her Little Sister brought in this stranger for the other girls to see, all of whom crowded around him to get a better look at him, reaching their hands up to him as if they wished to be carried.

He was smiling warmly at the girls, kneeling down to let them each touch his hands, his face, his hair, and finally embrace him. He embraced them in return, and Eleanor was struck by the sadness in his smile. She saw a tear trickle down his cheek as he shook his head in disbelief.

"So many…"

Eleanor stepped closer to see what they were doing. She heard them murmuring "Daddy" over and over again as they wrapped him in a group hug. Eleanor felt herself swallowing hard, and realized that she was crying herself. The scent of Adam was all around this man, and more importantly, the scent of her father. These girls trusted this man just as she had trusted Father.

Mother just scoffed. "Such fickle girls. The first man you see on the surface, and already you're addressing him as 'father?'"

Eleanor tensed at her mother's voice. How would her mother's powers of persuasion affect this man?

Jack lifted his head to look at the woman. "And you would be Doctor Sofia Lamb?"

Mother smirked wryly. "Naturally. And you would be the infamous Jack Ryan. A pleasure, I'm sure."

"Likewise," Jack said, not meaning it at all, as he turned his attention back to the Little Sisters that still had their arms around him. One of them was climbing on his shoulders.

"What will you do with us, Master Ryan?" Lamb said, using the diminutive form of the word. "We are your prisoners now, are we not? Are we to be shipped off to America in chains?"

Lambs words struck fear into the Little Sisters, and they looked down at their newly discovered father, waiting for his response.

"I'm here to offer you a ride, nothing more," Jack said reassuringly. "If you want to stay on this junk heap Doctor Lamb, then by all means, you're welcome to stay. I have no instructions beyond facilitating your safe passage to Doctor Tenenbaum's orphanage."

He reached up and plucked the Little Sister off his shoulders, holding her under her arms to address her.

"Girls…the rest of your sisters are waiting for you with Doctor Tenenbaum," he explained. "You can either stay here with Doctor Lamb and go back to Rapture, or you can come with me and go visit them…on my _airplane_."

He pointed out the window to his seaplane, it long wings and propeller catching the morning sun. The girls had never seen an aircraft before, and they gaped in amazement.

"An airplane!"

"That thing can fly?"

"Can we go for a ride in it?"

"Can we, Daddy?"

Doctor Lamb could not mask her disappointment. But if she objected now, she would be the villain in the Sisters' eyes, and their cooperation was crucial if she meant to retake Rapture.

Eleanor could only smile. This Jack Ryan fellow knew what he was doing. And more importantly, her sisters trusted him. And despite her mothers' words, the trust of a being submerged in Adam was not so easily swayed. This man had rescued their brethren eight years ago when Fontaine had nearly taken control of Rapture. He had come for them now. And despite her mother's best efforts at sabotage, he had won the girls' cooperation.

She could trust him. She would trust him. She would have trusted him anyway. Even if her sisters hadn't thrown their lot in with him, even if he hadn't bore the same scent as her father, even if she could manage not to blush under his damn gaze every time he smiled at her…

She caught herself. Her sisters came first. Their safety was her priority. Once they were someplace safe and secure, away from her mother and Rapture…then she could worry about how she felt about Jack.

She stood beside him, placing a hand on one of her sisters' head, speaking to her, but making eye contact with Jack.

"We've never been on an airplane before," she smiled, trying to make up for her earlier standoffishness. "It sounds like it could be fun. Why don't we let Daddy give us a ride?"

The girls cheered around them and urged Jack out the hatch towards the seaplane. Eleanor clamped her syringe and harpoon to her belt, and carrying her helmet in one hand, she walked over to untie her mother.

Sofia Lamb's hands were already out, and she feigned indignity as she got to her feet.

"That won't be necessary, Eleanor, I am perfectly capable of boarding an aircraft myself…"

She walked towards the hatch, making it clear she intended to accompany them. The smirk on her face made Eleanor shudder. It was a look that said, 'I could have killed you at any time, and I didn't. You may have won this round, but don't think for a moment that you're in control here.'

Eleanor stood still as Sofia Lamb followed the Little Sisters as Jack helped them onto the seaplane. Once all the sisters were boarded, she declined his help and stepped into the cabin of the plane like she was another passenger.

Jack turned to look at Eleanor. "Have everything you need?"

Eleanor stood on the deck, still in her Big Sister suit, holding her helmet in one hand. She shuddered despite the heat of the morning sun on her face. Her mother would not rest, would not stop vying for control. The first chance she got, Mother would strike back, and seize control of the Little Sisters, of Eleanor, and of Rapture if she could. Why had Eleanor let her live? Of course, it was the good will of her father that ran through her veins. It would be bitter irony if the good will of her father ended up being the death of her.

"You coming?"

She looked at Jack, who offered his hand to her. Again, there was that look of sadness in his eyes, of weight on his shoulders. She felt like maybe he understood her… No, that wasn't it. The person he understood was her _father_. Even though they had never met, Jack and Father both fought to liberate the Sisters, pumped their bodies full of plasmids and tonics, and subjected themselves to the dive suit of the Big Daddy. All for the Sisters. For _her_.

She took his hand. "I'm ready…" she nodded.

Jack probably took that to mean that she had been saying goodbye to this diving craft, to her father, and to Rapture - which, in a way, she had been. With this, she bade farewell to that world of nightmares under the sea. Whatever plans her mother made here on the surface, it wouldn't be Rapture. Under the sea, there were kilotons of water pressing down on their heads. Here, on the surface, there was only open sky.

Jack squeezed her hand as he guided her on board. There, the girls sat excitedly with their seatbelts on, with Mother sitting cross-legged in the back. The co-pilot's seat was left open for Eleanor.

She felt her blush return as Jack helped her into the seat. There was a childish flurry of excitement as the thought of flying through the air suddenly became very real as Jack sealed the door and sat beside her in the pilot's seat. He flipped a couple of switches, and the cabin suddenly filled with noise as the engines hummed to life, and the propellers on either wing began to spin.

Eleanor tried to say something but Jack only looked confused, shaking his head and pointing to his ear. It was too loud to hear over the rumble of the engines, so he offered her a pair of headphones with an attached microphone and cable that lead into the transceiver. Donning a similar pair himself, she heard his voice crackling over the radio.

"Are you sure Doctor Lamb isn't going to try something?" Jack asked. It was a gesture of courtesy to subscribe to Eleanor's judgment on how to deal with her mother.

Eleanor just shook her head. "Mother knows she's been beaten here, but she hasn't given up enough to try to sabotage the plane she herself is riding. If things are left as they are, her objectives won't be reached. In order for her to achieve her goals, she needs to survive."

Jack nodded and remained silent. He maneuvered the aircraft away from the diving vessel.

"You're not going to ask why I let her live?" Eleanor prodded, honestly curious.

Jack shook his head. "Because she deserves a fair trial. And because you're not a killer."

The answer took her by surprise. What did he know about what she could or could not do? But he was right. She wasn't a killer. The thought repulsed her even more than the thought of being under her mother's thumb again. No matter what her mother did to her, she wouldn't make her into a monster. That was one thing Eleanor had control of in her life.

Eleanor found herself smiling. The plane began to pick up speed. The girls in the back seats began screaming and giggling in delight as the plane accelerated, pressing them to the backs of their seats. At first, Eleanor feared that they would be frightened, but looking back at them, she saw only smiling faces.

The plane took off and gained altitude. Eleanor was still smiling.

"First time in the air, huh?" Jack asked, noticing her smile.

Eleanor nodded. But that wasn't why she was smiling.

She looked at Jack, and saw his eyes still on her. She began to blush again. "W-What?"

Jack smiled and let go of a breath, shaking his head. "I don't see the resemblance. To your mother, I mean."

Eleanor's blush did not fade. Was that a bad thing? "What do you mean?"

Jack looked back out the windshield. "Well…maybe you just take after your father more."

Eleanor bit her lip. Why was he making her so flustered? "I…you think so?"

Jack shrugged, turning the wheel to adjust their course. "Well, I never had the opportunity to meet him in person…but the way Doctor Tenenbaum describes him, your father was far nobler than Doctor Lamb. More kindhearted. More like you."

Eleanor wanted to disappear into her seat. "You don't know me, Mister Ryan…"

"No," Jack admitted. "But I see what you've done. You've taken the Little Sisters under your wing. You've earned the protection and devotion of a man like Delta. And you've honored his memory by saving a small part of him inside you."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "How…how did you-?"

"I can _feel_ the Adam inside you, Eleanor," Jack's eyes were grave. "There are feelings wrapped all around it. Sorrow. Anguish. Pain. But I also feel kindness. Selflessness. Love."

Eleanor's cheeks were on fire. "You don't…you don't _know_ me…"

She must have been crying because Jack suddenly backpedaled. "I…I said too much. I'm sorry, Miss Lamb…"

He didn't say anything after that, and Eleanor felt like a fool. All this man had done was try to give her a compliment, and she threw it back in his face.

"No…I'm the one who should be sorry…" Eleanor said, biting her lip. She didn't turn to face him, but she could feel his eyes on her. It made her heart race. "Thank you for…for saving me."

She stole a glance his way. He was smiling.

She wanted to jump out of the plane! Why did that smile make her so flustered!

"It's the least I could do," he said, turning to look back at the girls, whose faces were plastered to the windows, staring down at the shimmering and ever distant water down below. "The Little Sisters are like my children now."

Eleanor felt something wither inside her, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Whatever it was, Jack remained oblivious to her plight as he tightened his grip on the steering yoke. "Storm's coming…"

Eleanor looked ahead, and indeed, there was a storm ahead of them. A wave of panic washed over her as she wondered how this aircraft would manage in stormy weather. But Jack remained calm as he grabbed the cabin microphone and spoke into it so his voice would carry across the inside of the plane.

"Passengers, this your captain speaking, we are expecting some slight turbulence, so please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened and your seatbacks are in the upright position."

Eleanor craned her neck to look back as the Little Sisters strapped themselves in tightly, her mother sitting in the back row, still crossing her arms and legs. She had a look of utter defiance on her face.

Eleanor paled.

"How close are we to Bermuda?" she asked Jack urgently.

Jack was focused intensely on keeping the plane steady. "Not far. We'll probably get there just as the storm hits."

Eleanor's hands tightened around the small armrests of her seat. "Hurry. I don't think this is a normal storm."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her, but the fear written on Eleanor's face told him all he needed to know.

Eleanor felt a thrill of weightlessness as the plane suddenly hit a cold front and dropped several feet. Jack gripped the control yoke tightly as the plane began to descend. The entire aircraft began shaking as the winds began picking up, and drops of water began spattering the windows.

There was a crack of lightning, and the Little Sisters began to scream.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"Daddy!"

"I'm scared, Daddy!"

"Make it go away!"

Jack could only grip the control yoke tighter. "Bermuda Port West, this is November Echo Four Two requesting emergency landing! Repeat, this is…"

Eleanor clutched her armrests, as the craft seemed to descend faster and faster. Her ears were popping and her stomach lurched. The Sisters were screaming, and she wanted to crawl into the back of the plane and comfort them. But she was terrified. Fear kept her pinned to her seat, and the best she could do was turn around to look at the girls as they screamed in fear.

She saw her mother, no longer cross-legged, but still staring ahead at her with a look of defiance. Sitting on either side of her was a Little Sister, and they were each clinging to her arm for safety.

Mother smiled at her.

Eleanor scrambled for her big Sister helmet.

"Mayday! Mayday! Bermuda Port West!" Jack shouted into his radio. "This is November Echo Four Two requesting emergency landing! Repeat, this is-"

And then, a wall of water.

* * *

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**Bioshock Fan Fiction**

**Bermuda Triangle**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

The first thing Eleanor became conscious of was the sound of water sloshing mutely through her helmet. Her head throbbed and she tasted blood and her neck hurt like she had been jerked around far too much for her spine to take.

She didn't think about her Sisters, or Mother, or Rapture or Jack. She was barely able to hold onto any thread of consciousness. Every time she did, a pain flooded into the back of her eyes, and she nearly wretched. She slipped back into dreams of elegant halls and ladies and gentlemen of stature dressed in fineries and carnival masks, the illusion perpetuated to the Little Sisters throughout their wanderings in Rapture so the cold, dank underworld did not terrify them into hysterics.

She didn't feel her body temperature gradually dropping or her limbs going numb or her heart rate slowing, but some part of her mind acknowledged the slow, steady approach of death. A part of her welcomed it, a reprieve from all her concerns. But another part of her mind rejected it – there was still so much to do, she just couldn't remember what.

The world was so far away. She didn't feel the water around her. She didn't feel the pair of strong arms that hoisted her out of the ocean, or the sudden rush of cool air on her face as her helmet came off, or the warmth of the lips that pressed to hers, forcing air into her lungs.

She suddenly began coughing violently and her eyes flew open, though all she could see was were stars dancing in front of her face. The throbbing in her head was more acute than ever, but the pain reassured her – it meant she was alive.

Though at the moment, paralyzed in shock and agony, she wished she wasn't.

She was on the shore of a beach, the rocky sand stretching only a few feet from the shore to the high grass. It was evening, the sun already gone behind the horizon, faint wisps of orange and pink barely visible among the clouds.

"Thought I lost you there…" a panting but familiar voice came from beside her after she caught her breath.

She blinked and turned her head to the sound of the voice – an act that required an excruciating amount of strength – and saw Jack kneeling over her, looking relieved.

"Welcome back, Sunshine…" he smiled weakly, his flight suit torn and soggy, his hair dripping. In the back of her mind, she knew that she should be worried about her sisters, worried about Mother, and worried about the plane crash. But at that moment, all she could think about was how glad she was that Jack was still with her.

"Where…" she suddenly began coughing violently, her throat constricting like she was breathing razor wire.

"You shouldn't speak," Jack said rummaging from something out of Eleanor's field of vision. "You're dehydrated. Here…"

A canteen slung to his shoulder, he hoisted her up to a sitting position so she could drink, though the swelling in her head caused a sudden feeling of vertigo as gravity shifted its pull on her blood flow, and she heaved, though she had nothing in her stomach to expel, and all at once she was seeing stars again.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Jack said, offering her the canister of fresh water. "I guess you're still a little shaken…"

Eleanor closed her eyes and grabbed the water bottle gratefully, sloshing a mouthful to wash out the disgusting taste in her mouth before spitting it out onto the sand, her mind only on the next gulp of water that both soothed and burned her raw throat. She hadn't eaten or drank anything since breaching the surface in Sinclair's lifeboat, and who knew how long she had been unconscious.

It was dark now, and by the time Eleanor managed to turn her attention away from the much-needed water bottle, she noticed Jack piling up pieces of driftwood and palm tree branches into a pile. "We're on the shore of west Bermuda, I think," Jack said as he yanked a few sheathes of tall grass from the above the shoreline. "Our long range radio's busted though, so we can't exactly call for help. We shouldn't be too far from civilization though, but we'll have to walk there…"

He snapped his fingers, and a gout of flame erupted from within the woodpile, igniting it immediately. At first, the swell of Adam in his hand was enough to startle her, but she blinked a few times, thinking, _Of course he can use plasmids. Hadn't I already read that in the histories of Rapture?_

He walked around the fire to check on her, kneeling down to take the flask from her hand, holstering it, before placing a hand on her shoulder and the other on her back to slowly lie her onto her back.

"You should rest," he said paternally. "You're lucky to be alive. If you hadn't fastened your helmet on in time…"

Eleanor tried to think back, to remember what had happened. She remembered a storm. A crack of lightning. The sisters screaming in fright. Her mother smiling. Fumbling for her helmet. A crash.

"How did…" her voice was still ragged. "How did _you_ make it out?"

Jack smiled bitterly. "This wasn't my first plane crash, I'm afraid. I managed to stay conscious enough to deploy the emergency life boat…"

He gestured up towards the grass where Eleanor presumed the aforementioned raft was beached.

"What about the Sisters?" Eleanor couldn't keep the panic from her voice. "What about Mother?"

Jack's face fell and he looked away.

Eleanor knew his answer before it came out.

"I looked for them as best I could…" his voice came out shaky. "But it was dark, stormy, I almost drowned…it was pure chance that I even found _you_, and that was because your Big Sister suit has enough reflective surfaces to be spotted underwater…"

Tears were streaming down Eleanor's face. It was an inevitability she had feared since her arrival. "I couldn't save them…I couldn't do…_anything_…"

Jack's hand was on her shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault-"

"Yes it is!" Eleanor shouted, before going into another coughing fit. Her throat had not been ready for that amount of volume yet. Jack offered her the flask of water again, but she turned it down. "I was a fool to bring Mother along! I was a _fool _to let her live! I should have just let her drown when I had the chance!"

"Eleanor, we can't go back and change that now," Jack shook his head. "And even if we could, do you really think you could kill your own mother?"

Eleanor didn't say anything. They were stranded once again. Even if they found a way off this island, the Sisters were lost. And once again…it was all _her_ fault.

"Eleanor…" Jack intoned again. "What did you mean before, when you said that that storm wasn't normal?"

Eleanor blinked back tears. That had been the last thing on her mind at that moment. She sniffed and swallowed and tried to think. What _had_ she meant? She had felt something…instinctual, after seeing her mother's face. It had been a gut reaction, a feeling, a premonition. It had just turned out to be true.

Why _had_ Mother made no sign of alarm? Had she planned the whole thing, storm and all? But how could someone predict the weather up here?

Unless…

No…

No, that was ridiculous.

"Eleanor?"

His voice snapped her back to consciousness. She didn't know why, but the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. Her disbelief must have been visible on her face, because Jack looked puzzled.

"No…" she gave voice to her disbelief, thinking back to her last thought. "No, it's a crazy idea…"

"Eleanor…" he said, distracting her again. Gods above, she liked the way he said her name. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Oh, right. The storm.

"This…" she mumbled, still feeling dizzy from the day's events. "It's only a theory…and a stupid one…"

"Eleanor…"

She shook her head. His voice could be so distracting!

"If people can use plasmids to create electricity…to create fire, ice, and wind…then in theory, someone with enough Eve…or enough people with Eve…should be able to dramatically heat up or cool down parts of the atmosphere. Add some wind to mix the two, some electricity…and you've got a lightning storm."

Jack remained still for several seconds. Eleanor was sure he had lost all respect for her. She closed her eyes, ready to receive the inevitable chiding for her childish delusions.

"It makes sense, in theory…" Jack said.

Here it comes. First he would placate her…

"Now that I think about it…I felt a swell of Adam coming from somewhere when that storm hit…" he went on, his eyes unfocused as he pondered this line of thinking. "I didn't know where it was coming from – it seemed to be coming from everywhere. The logical conclusion should have been that the Adam was integrated into the storm itself, but I couldn't imagine such a large quantity of Adam being used at the time…but if you assume it's possible, the storm makes sense. It hit us much harder and faster than any normal storm I've seen. It was like it was deliberately forcing the plane out of the sky. And there was nothing in the forecasts suggesting a tropical storm of that size was anywhere near Bermuda…"

Eleanor's eyes were open again. Was he actually given credence to this preposterous idea of hers?

"What I don't get is…" Jack turned to look at her, once again in need of answers. "How could your mother have orchestrated something of that scale? Does she have many contacts outside of Rapture? And people who can use Adam, no less? And how would she have managed to pull it off while she was your prisoner?"

Guilt suddenly filled Eleanor's veins. "I, um…I tied her up the night before you arrived at the submersible…but when I awoke, she was already awake and talking to the Sisters…and when we boarded your plane, she slipped right out of the restraints – she must have untied herself sometime in the middle of the night."

Jack's expression turned grave. "Or she convinced one of the Sisters to untie her…"

Eleanor's heart sank. She hadn't thought of that.

"Why would they…?"

"It's just a possibility," Jack said. "Your mother's a highly persuasive woman, especially to those Sisters. Tenenbaum warned me before coming here, but if she managed to get a message out to someone…or something…to create that storm and cause that plane to go down, then that must mean she had an escape plan, which would go a long way toward explaining why I couldn't find a _single_ Sister after we crashed…and why we're not seeing their bodies wash up on shore."

Eleanor shuddered at the thought. "But…wait a minute. If she escaped the plane crash, then why haven't we seen her? Where is she?"

"Where else? Rapture."

Eleanor's heart sank. No…all the effort she had gone to ensure her sisters' safety, all the work she had put into undoing her Mother's self righteous, draconian idealism…back to square one. She felt the tears come back. No, it was stupid to cry! Pointless! Just like Jack said, you can't go back and change it now! So why was she crying? Why did she feel like such a failure? Why had she let her sisters down?

She felt a warm hand cup her cheek, and she saw a smiling face looking down at her through bleary eyes.

She couldn't help herself. She reached her arms out and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him towards her, burying her face against his shoulder. The tears flowed freely now, her sadness, the exhaustion, the frustration at having to constantly match her wits against her evil genius of a mother…

"We'll sort this out," Jack reassured her, his hands on her back. "Don't worry, Eleanor…I'll help you sort this out…"

Idiot. What good could the two of them do? They were already on the run, and even if they managed to find a way back to Rapture, Mother would be waiting for them!

But despite her feelings of utter helplessness, Jack words comforted her. They at least meant that she wasn't in this fight alone. And the way his voice sounded when he said her name was downright melodious! Before, she had felt the crushing pressure of solitude at the loss of her father…but now…

She tightened her grip around his shoulders.

Now at least she had Jack.

* * *

She awoke to the sound of gunfire.

Jack was stumbling, limping, his right leg bloody. He had pistol in one hand, and a fistful of electricity in the other. But that was ill suited for the Alpha Series Big Daddy that was flinging grenades at him.

Eleanor sat up at the commotion, and backed away instinctively when she saw what Jack was fighting.

The behemoth swung its drill at him, knocking the pistol from his hand. Jack shot out a lightning bolt with his other hand, stunning the beast while Jack lunged for his pistol. But the Big Daddy was on him before he could bring the gun around.

What was a Big Daddy doing here, Eleanor wondered. And an Alpha Series at that! The only person who had control over them was…

Mother.

Of course! How had she not seen it? She had known Mother had sent Big Daddies and Big Sisters to the surface to steal away children from their homes! It was part of the reason why they wore dive suits – so they could traverse the ocean floor and march from Rapture to the surface and back again.

She had sent this Big Daddy to capture them – or to simply kill them.

But Jack had only ever fought regular Big Daddies, according to the histories. He had never dealt with an Alpha Series before! They packed much more of a punch, and could withstand much more punishment!

Of course, Jack had also gone toe-to-toe with the super spliced Frank Fontaine. He must have been several times as strong as an Alpha Series! Of course, he hadn't been alone in that fight. He had had help…

From the Little Sisters!

Eleanor got to her feet. Jack was on his back, holding the arm that held the Big Daddy's drill poised to gut him, the spinning rotor of death inches from his face, buzzing menacingly. Eleanor put every last drop of Eve she had into a telekinetic shove that hurled the Big Daddy off of Jack, sending it careening into the water.

Jack wasted no time pumping the last of his Eve into sending an electric bolt into the water, leaving the Big Daddy paralyzed and helpless as it cooked from within. With a deafening groan, it collapsed, sending wakes to the shore as the massive behemoth fell, dead.

Eleanor gasped, adrenaline pumping. She fell to one knee, panting for breath. "Are…are you alright?"

Jack was equally exhausted, as well as sweating and bleeding, and he limped over towards her, collapsing onto his backside.

"Yeah…" he gritted his teeth, ripping his pant leg open to treat his wound. "Thanks to you…"

Eleanor made a sour expression, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful…I was caught off guard."

Jack sighed, laughing as the endorphin rush subsided. "It caught me off guard, too, Eleanor…don't be so hard on yourself…"

As Jack began bandaging his wounded leg, Eleanor got shakily to her feet. She was feeling much better now compared to when she first woke up. She trudged out into the water and caught the drifting corpse of the Big Daddy by the arm, lugging its massive weight onto the shore.

Jack finished bandaging his leg when he saw what she was doing. First, she sank her syringe into the lumbering brute, emptying it of any lingering Adam. She inhaled deeply, feeling rejuvenated. Suddenly energy began rushing back into her.

She then began to disassemble the suit piece by piece. The body inside was a blackened husk the way Fontaine had been. She scoured the suit for anything useful, finding a first aid kit, a few weapons, and some Eve hypos. She recharged her own reserves, leaving the rest within the suit.

"You should probably put this suit on…" Eleanor said absently, before she could convince herself it was a bad idea. It was necessary – with both of them in dive suits, they could reach Rapture the same way the Big Daddy had. And it would offer him protection, weaponry, and a ready supply of Eve.

But it was the same type of suit her father had worn. She didn't know how that made her feel.

Jack frowned, but nodded gravely. He had reached the same conclusion that she had. Sofia Lamb had returned to Rapture. And she had the Sisters with her. If they meant to recover them, the needed to get to Rapture, and they needed all the tools, resources and firepower they could get their hands on. And the Eve inside it would recharge his dwindling reserves, and speed up the healing of his leg

Eleanor turned her back as Jack took off the bloodstained rags of his flight suit and slid into the Alpha suit. It felt similar to the Big Daddy suit he wore before when he needed the aid of the Little Sisters in Rapture, but thankfully the smell wasn't as pungent.

"I'm ready…" he said, sliding his helmet into place.

When Eleanor turned and saw him wearing the Alpha suit, she felt a fuzzy feeling inside her that she quickly quenched, fitting her own helmet into place. Freud would have a field day with her.

They packed everything useful into their suits' backpacks, and burned the rest, using the fire to cremate the previous host of the Big Daddy suit. The both stood respectfully by the pyre as the body burned until it was beyond recognition. When the fire was only embers, they turned and marched into the water.

* * *

It was a long boring march.

Though punctuated by the occasional bit of coral, wandering crustacean or school of fish, the ocean floor was mostly barren. Twice, they plummeted over the side of a precipice, trusting their suits to withstand the drop. They were already beyond the reach of the sun, though each suit bore a floodlight with a nuclear battery. The Alpha suit had a radar on its wrist that pointed west towards where Rapture lay, which also happened to fall in the midst of the Bermuda Triangle.

In the past ten years, many a seagoing vessel or aircraft had become lost in this particular 500,000 square mile or so area. Some people on the surface claimed paranormal explanations, or even extra terrestrial involvement. Most chalked it up to pure coincidence, comparing the events to previous records, and pointing out that the number of accidents on average were no different than any other area.

What few were able to garner was that Rapture itself was the cause of most of these occurrences. Andrew Ryan hadn't wanted any topsiders stumbling across his undersea paradise. Rapture may have been a construction of sub marine stature, but that wasn't to say Ryan hadn't had his share of facilities installed on the surface, particularly just above his precious city.

Located at key points around the Bermuda Triangle were signal jammers, similar to the counter-propaganda signals used in the Cold War, designed specifically to interfere with radar systems used in aircraft and sea vessels and send false signals. Along with these jammers were refineries that processed raw Adam into a system of thermal vents that rose from deep underwater that pumped hot and cold air into the atmosphere, designed to cause irregular weather patterns at the flip of a switch. The combination of these two systems was enough to deter any craft from poking around the area too much, and permanently deal with those that did. If the surfacers grew suspicious of these events, Ryan predicted that they would chalk it up to some new type of weapon used by whichever side they opposed in the war.

He probably would have gotten a small chuckle out of the knowledge that the surface world blamed his work not on the scientific brilliance of one another's governments, but on aliens and ghosts.

"We seem to be at an impasse…" Jack mused as they both slowed to a halt. Ahead of them was a massive wall, a piece of continental shelf that had shifted upward what seemed like several hundred feet, and stretched on indefinitely in either direction, leaving no clearly defined path. The blip on Jack's radar that indicated where Rapture was continued to blink directly past the massive shelf.

"Isn't there some way around this?" Eleanor demanded, unable to accept that something so simple as a wall was able to halt their progress. "The Big Daddies have to traverse this way regularly."

Jack shook his head. "I don't think this Big Daddy was meant to return alive…"

"What do you mean?"

Jack sighed. "I mean Daddies can't swim. Big Sisters can. This Big Daddy was probably sent on a suicide mission. There's no way for him to return. You could easily swim over that without me. In this suit, I'm just dead weight. Maybe…" He turned his massive helmet to look at her. "Maybe this is where we should part ways? You would make much better time without me slowing you down."

"No," Eleanor said firmly. That course of action immediately felt wrong. She didn't care to ponder the reasons she felt that way, but she just knew it was not the right choice. "No, I…I'll have a better chance of success if I have someone at my side. Strength in numbers, right? And besides, what would you even do once I left? Head back to Bermuda? You can't help the Sisters when you're stranded on an island. You've lost your plane. And even if you manage to procure another, who's to say Mother won't be able to simply take it down again? That's not a chance I'm willing to take."

Her response gave him pause. For the sake of the Sisters, they both knew she was better off alone. She was powerful enough to take on any Splicer she came across, and she was quick enough to avoid any Big Daddies that her mother might have reprogrammed to attack her. The only person who benefited from coming along was Jack himself.

She was doing this for his sake.

It made him smile.

"Well, it might add a few hours to our journey, but let's try to find a way around this obstacle then…"

Eleanor said nothing as they went on. She didn't know why she was so adamant about keeping Jack around, but she knew that the idea of pressing on alone did not feel comfortable.

Several hours later, they were no closer to Rapture – in fact, they weren't even heading in the right direction anymore thanks to the slight curve of the cliff blocking their way. They could have simply continued to march ahead, but they were both getting hungry, and their muscles needed to rest.

"I'm beginning to think we bit off more than we could chew…" Jack mused morbidly.

"Please, I'm trying not to think about food right now…" Eleanor groaned. It had been days since her last meal. They had some provisions with them, but inside their suits, they had no way to access them.

"Let's take a break," Jack offered, sitting next to a massive, elongated boulder that towered over them, jutting out from the cliff. "We can keep going after a rest…"

Eleanor was loath to halt her progress, but she was sure that any more marching along at this pace would result in her collapse.

They wasted no breath in talking, both were too tired and too hungry to muster up the strength. It was a draining experience, trudging through ankle deep mud underwater for hours on end. Their steps had seemed to take minutes to complete, and the darkness loomed ahead of them in spite of the bright floodlights emanating from both suits. On top of that, their stomachs were clenching on nothingness, and their bodies were slowly running out of calories in which to burn for energy.

"I'm sorry…" Eleanor broke the silence after a long while.

"For what?" Jack said, still sitting down.

Eleanor, her back still against the immense oblong boulder, her legs outstretched before her, sighed. "For dragging you into this. All you signed on for was to give us a plane ride back to the orphanage. And now you're caught up in _my_ mess, and-"

"Eleanor…"

His voice silenced her. His tone was magnanimous, gentle and understanding. She felt like she could melt into that voice were the situation less dire.

"I'm here because I want to be…" Jack said, emphasizing his words. "I'm here because those sisters deserve all the help they can get…and so do you. I knew things would probably get complicated. I knew I probably hadn't seen the last of Rapture. But I was prepared for it. I've gotten out of worse scrapes than this before. No matter what this costs me, I'm going to see this through to the end…"

She could see his eyes through the helmet. Through her father's helmet.

"You have my word."

She nodded. And blushed.

"Is it…just me, or is it getting hot down here…?" she said, mostly joking.

Jack glanced at one of his readouts and his eyes widened with surprise.

"It's not just you…there's a really strong heat source coming from directly behind us…" he lurched, climbing to his feet, not an unimpressive feet considering the lack of dexterity offered by the suit.

Eleanor sobered, getting to her feet much quickly and turned to face the alleged heat source. All she could see was the smooth, oblong boulder that they had been leaning against.

She placed her hand on the surface.

"It's…coming from this outcropping…"

Jack had finally gotten to his feet and turned to face the massive shape that they had been leaning against.

"That's…not an outcropping…" he took a few steps back to get a better view, his floodlight illuminating the entire structure. "That's a submarine!"

* * *

The SSN-651 USS _Betelgeuse_ was a Nautilus class nuclear submarine. After checking it from stem to stern, the two wanderers decided that the boat still had power, which was the likely cause of the heat source. Both Jack and Eleanor had the same idea as they began climbing the sunken craft's hull in search of a hatch.

They found the topside hatch, which granted access with no resistance. The boat was not designed to repel divers out in the open ocean. The hatch led to a broken airlock. The two of them sealed the outer hatch and opened the inner hatch, letting the water spill into the cabin, splashing into the red-lit bulkhead.

They descended down a ladder. Once inside, they had to brace themselves as they walked, for the deck was at a constant slant as the sub lay crooked on the ocean floor. They walked uphill to try to find the driest area. There was water dripping and sometimes pouring from numerous leaks and holes, but for the time being it had sufficient air, which was good enough for Jack and Eleanor.

They found the galley and sat down at one of the tables, though they had to prop their feet against the table legs as both the table and the floor were on a fifteen degree slant. They both removed their helmets and took a breath of relatively fresh air. They were both sweaty, their hair damp and clinging to their scalps. Their eyes met and they both laughed with a giddy kind of relief.

Jack pried open two cans of beans from his pack, and they both ate ravenously.

"We really should have eaten something before we departed," Eleanor noted, shoving another mouthful of beans between her teeth.

"You shouldn't eat before going swimming," Jack chuckled lightheartedly. "It gives you cramps."

Eleanor just laughed, too relieved to care.

The beans were gone within minutes. They both took a draught from Jack's flagon of water, and having taken care of their food and water needs, up came the next pressing issue to address.

"I'm going to go powder my nose," Eleanor said politely, getting to her feet.

"Powder your nose? We're six miles below sea level."

Eleanor rolled her eyes, irritated at having to explain her meaning. She turned to berate him, but stopped when she saw the grin on his face. He was yanking her chain.

She scoffed with a laugh, shaking her head. "I'll be right back…"

"Don't get lost," Jack warned. "This crate's not as solid as she looks. We may have to get out of this junk heap in a hurry."

Eleanor nodded and, grabbing a wet towel from the sink of the galley, she balanced precariously as she made her way upwards to the forward hatch of the galley.

Jack discarded the empty cans and considered the boat they had found. The markings everywhere identified the ship as the USS _Betelgeuse_, which the newspapers claimed was a Nautilus class nuclear submarine that the navy was using for military exercises. As for the circumstances that had brought the boat to the Bermuda Triangle, or the circumstance that had lead to her sinking, Jack had no clue.

One question plagued him, however. Nautilus class submarines were usually crewed by about a hundred men. Alive or dead …where were they?

"Jack!"

Jack grabbed his rivet gun and came barreling in the direction Eleanor had gone without even thinking. In his head, the urge came almost instinctively to protect the Sister under his care. True, this Sister was no longer "Little," but this meant very little to the Adam swimming in his system.

He came across Eleanor, who was standing breathless over a smoking corpse, her hand still engulfed in fire.

"Are you alright!" Jack demanded. "What happened?"

Eleanor looked relatively calm. "A Splicer. Came at me out of nowhere. I didn't want them to catch you off guard, so I screamed."

Jack sighed, a relieved smile on his face. "Who's looking after who, here?"

Eleanor flashed him a smile that said left no question as to who she thought was protecting whom.

"Anyway, how can there be Splicers on a US submarine?" Jack asked out loud. "Plasmids haven't been made available on the surface. The industry is completely isolated to the walls of Rapture."

"Rapture was built in this location for a reason," Eleanor mused. "It is here where the richest – and as far as we know, the only – source of Adam lies. Perhaps this craft has lingered here long enough for the latent Adam in the area to permeate the hull?"

Jack shook his head. "That would take years. For the crew to have been driven mad with Adam like that…they would have all died out before any effects could really surface. Unless…"

Eleanor looked at him, as a grave expression covered his face.

"What is it?" Eleanor asked.

Jack looked morbidly at her. "We're on a nuclear submarine. Normally the engines on this thing are kept well contained, but…after a crash such as this thing sustained…one crack in the engines…"

Eleanor paled. "If even a sliver of Adam were present on the ship, it would react to the radioactive material…"

Jack stared down at the corpse at his feet. It was almost unmistakably a Splicer, except that it wore a uniform of the US Navy.

"Irradiated Adam…" Jack shuddered. The thought was unsettling. "I think we need to leave."

Eleanor nodded, and the both opened the hatch leading through the galley and back towards the exit.

The galley, which had been empty before, was now filled with at least a dozen Splicers in Navy uniforms, armed with military issued firearms.

Jack and Eleanor exchanged a look.

"…Crap."


	3. Chapter 3

**Bioshock Fan Fiction**

**Bermuda Triangle**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

Nautilus class submarines weigh in at about 3000 tons or more and stretch a little over 300 feet in length. They are also typically crewed by 92 men at arms and 13 officers on duty. And at that moment, Jack Ryan and Eleanor Lamb thought they might very well have been fighting off _all_ of them.

"Behind you!" Eleanor shouted, launching a hail of fire over Jack's shoulder.

Jack had dropped his rivet gun and began using the massive drill at his hip to gouge his way through the masses of sailors turned Splicers, each armed with Naval issue side arms. A few were muttering incoherencies about aliens and ghosts, and other nonsense about the Bermuda Triangle.

"How many of them are there?" Eleanor demanded, neatly harpooning one Splicer to the cabin bulkhead.

"More if we keep making this much noise…" Jack muttered, picking up his empty rivet gun and strapping it to his back. "Here, maybe this will slow them down…"

He stretched out his empty hand at an oncoming horde of angry Splicers and bathed them in ice. With a snap and a hiss, they solidified into frozen statues. The slanted surface made the leading group slide backwards into the oncoming rush of Splicers, knocking them down and pinning them behind the next hatchway. Several of the frozen bodies broke apart, though enough of them remained intact to effectively clog up the hatch leading into the next cabin on the way to the escape hatch.

"Great…" Jack muttered to himself, arming his drill as he gingerly made his way down towards the mass of mostly dead Splicers.

"Wait, Jack!" Eleanor shouted. "You iced part of the floor. It might not be-"

Her warning came too late. The rickety walkway underfoot was now even more brittle from the ice, and under the massive weight of the Big Daddy suit, the floor of the _Betelgeuse_ gave way, letting Jack tumble to the deck below.

"Jack!"

He hit the lower deck with a thud, landing hard on his back. He grunted as he got to his feet. He pointed his drill to the left and right searching for hostiles, and found none. Easing his weapon, he peered upward at the hole in the ceiling. The emergency red lights offered little visibility, but the sound of gunfire and explosions left very little doubt as to Eleanor's status.

"Eleanor, fall back!" Jack shouted over the radio. "We passed a ladder on the way through here. Meet up there!"

"Got it!" Eleanor grunted, as she sent a bolt of fire through the mass of partially frozen and unfrozen Splicers, before turning and running back through the hatch she had come through. She sealed the hatch and froze it shut, confident that she could melt through the ice with a bit of fire should they need to go through it again.

Eleanor rushed back up through the cabins of the submarine, certain that Jack was facing increasingly uneven odds. A Splicer emerged from a cabin adjacent to the one she ran through, and she harpooned it to the wall.

"Hold it right there, Missy!" a voice sounded from behind her, and she heard the sound of a 9-millimeter being chambered.

She stopped and held her hands up. If this was a Splicer, it wouldn't bother with words – it would simply open fire. If this was a sane human being, she just might get some answers out of him.

"Drop the weapon and turn around…nice and slowly…" the voice was gruff and hard, the man's tone suggesting great stress and desperation.

"The weapon is attached to my arm, Sir," Eleanor said sweetly. "But I'll keep my arms where you can see them…"

She slowly turned around and saw a man in an officer's uniform, holding a shaking pistol at her. He had a graying beard that stretched his jaw line and a receding hairline.

"I don't know what you've done with my crew," the man said in a panicky voice. "But I want you to get the hell off my boat!"

"I'd be happy to leave you to your Splicer problem…" She peered closer and spied his officer's badge and saw three stripes besides a star. "…Commander Jacobson – just as soon as I find my companion. He fell through the floor a few decks back. Could you direct me to the nearest ladder?"

"Don't get cute on me, Missy," the Naval Commander barked. "We've been marooned down here for a week because of you communist devils!"

Eleanor looked stupefied, though her face was masked behind her visor. "Communist? Wait, you've been down here for a week? My friend and I just got here an hour ago. I think you've confused me for one of the other Splicers, Sir."

"Don't act so innocent!" Jacobson shook his gun at her. "I've seen you sneaking around this place for days! My men have been slowly going crazy, and killing each other left and right! God forsaken Bermuda Triangle…I don't know what you Commies have been doing down here, but I never should have accepted this mission! I should have known it'd be-"

"Sir?" Eleanor interrupted his rant. "Are you absolutely sure it was _me_ that you saw?" She asked skeptically. Maybe this officer wasn't as sane as she originally hoped.

"Not many other people in dive suits around here!" Jacobson pointed his gun accusingly at her. "And that haunting, wailing noise you make…God almighty, it drove my men up the wall!"

Eleanor blanched within her helmet. She knew the sound the other Big Sisters would make. That kind of thing wasn't something someone could hallucinate. And she had never emulated it since she had donned her suit.

There was no question about it.

There was another Big Sister on board.

* * *

Jack wasted no time around the hole he had fallen through – there was no way for him to climb back up. Instead, he made his way back up the slanted deck, keeping his eyes peeled for any Splicers, but couldn't find any. He determined that they must have been converging on Eleanor's position, which made him hurry his pace.

There was a shudder, and the emergency lights flickered and shut off. Jack fumbled for his suit's floodlight and jammed it on, turning around just in time to see a Splicer lunge at him.

SHHHNK!

A harpoon plunged through the torn navy sailor's uniform right in the middle of his chest, stopping inches from Jack's visor. Jack flinched back before the Splicer was yanked away from him as the wire on the harpoon went taut and pulled the Splicer back towards the Big Sister who fired it.

"Eleanor!" Jack blurted in surprise, lowering his drill. "You made it through? I thought we were going to meet up at the ladder…"

The Big Sister ignored him, and plunged her syringe into the Splicer, draining it of its Adam.

"Eleanor!" Jack shouted. "These Splicers could be radioactive! Are you sure you want to be absorbing their Adam?"

She turned her head to face Jack, removing her syringe from the fallen Splicer. She took a step towards Jack, and peered at him through her visor, tilting her head curiously.

"Eleanor?"

Suddenly the Big Sister leapt at him, her hands latching onto his shoulders, planting her feet on his hips. Her momentum carried him back, toppling him onto his back.

"H-Hey!" Jack gasped. "What-?"

She stared through her visor into his helmet. "You have a nice smell…" a voice came from within the suit.

Jack blinked. That was not Eleanor's voice. The accent sounded…Russian.

"Who are you?" Jack blurted.

The Big Sister seemed surprised. "A Big Papa who can talk? This is new…"

Jack sat awkwardly underneath the girl in the dive suit. "I, uh…I'm not a Big Daddy, actually…"

"Is that so?" The Big Sister did not seem inclined to get off of him. "You look like a Big Papa. You smell like a Big Papa."

"Well…it's all a clever disguise…" Jack muttered, still wondering what this Big Sister was doing here. "My name is Jack Ryan. I'm here with Eleanor Lamb, and we're trying to get to Rapture."

"Oh, so Eleanor got away?" the Sister reached up to unclasp her helmet, removing it to reveal short blond hair and stunning green eyes. "I did not think Dr. Lamb would have lost track of her so easily."

Jack blinked, finding himself oddly at a loss for words. "It's a…long story. But…who are you exactly?"

The girl smiled. "Oh, I am Catalina. Is pleasure to meet you, Mister Ryan."

"Likewise…" Ryan nodded awkwardly from beneath her. "So…you're not here to kill us then?"

"Nyet," Catalina shook her head. "I escaped from Rapture about a week ago. But Dr. Lamb sent the other Big Sisters after me, so I hid in this submarine. I have been trying to get it up and running again it to ensure my safe passage, although I am, how you say, not very good with machinery. And the Splicers have not been very cooperative…"

She seemed to suddenly realize she was still pinning Jack to the ground and got off his chest. Jack slowly got to his feet and removed his helmet so she could see who he really was.

Catalina seemed to find his face intriguing. "So…this is what a Big Papa looks like under the helmet?"

Jack shook his head. "I told you, I'm not a Big Daddy. I took this suit from a real Big Daddy. His skin was all charred and decrepit. He was just a black husk under the helmet."

"I see…" Catalina smiled cat-like. "How fortunate for me then."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Fortunate?"

Catalina winked. "That I should come across a Big Papa who is both good smelling _and_ good looking."

Jack blinked. There was an awkward pause where he couldn't think of anything to say. This was just too strange – a few seconds ago, he had nearly been mauled by a Splicer, been rescued by a Big Sister who he had thought to be Eleanor, before realizing that it was another Big Sister just in time to think that he was even more screwed as a result, only to find out that she wasn't after him after all

And she was now flirting with him.

Either that, or she was unbelievably frank.

"Umm…" Jack tried to think of something else. "Are you the only Big Sister here?"

"You mean, aside from Eleanor?" Catalina suggested, looking completely unfazed.

"Right. Aside from her," Jack nodded.

"As far as I know." Catalina shrugged. "Until the Splicers began to move, I had no idea that either of you were on board." Her expression changed. "A question though, if you would…"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"I am wondering if either you or Eleanor can fix nuclear engine?" Catalina patted the bulkhead. "This boat has kept me safe from the Big Sisters, but as you can see, the hosts are…less than welcoming. I am wanting to fix it."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I can fly a plane, but when it comes to boats, I'm pretty much a novice. But maybe…"

He thought back. And smiled.

"I think Eleanor might be able to help…"

* * *

It was not the most warm of reunions.

"Where did you find _her_?" Eleanor stared at Catalina with utter disbelief.

The Russian born Big Sister smiled ironically at her. "Good to see you too, Eleanor."

They were holed up in the bridge of the _Betelgeuse_, along with Commander Jacobson who Eleanor brought along after discovering that his pistol was out of bullets.

"You'll never get me to talk!" he announced, arms crossed. "I love my country, and I will die for her, you hear?"

At the moment Eleanor was more focused on the Big Sister Jack had found.

"I wish I could say the feeling was mutual," she said sourly to Catalina. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Awww, do not be like that," Catalina pleased, arms wide. "I thought we were friends."

"We _were_!" Eleanor accused. "Right up until the point where you ratted me out to Mother back on Rapture!"

Catalina didn't seem to recall what Eleanor was referring to. "Ratted you – you still got your panties in a twist over _that_? We were _kids_! I did not know any better!"

Jack decided that he was incredibly interested in the control panels lining the bridge. Commander Jacobson, still convinced that Catalina's Russian accent automatically made her a Communist, just jeered. "Yeah, right! You Commies are all just born traitorous!"

"_I_ knew better!" Eleanor shot back, ignoring the Commander. "If it had been me in your place, I wouldn't have budged!"

"You would have taken the fall for me?" Catalina narrowed her eyebrows. "I find that hard to believe. I tell you, Eleanor, the things your mother threatened to do to me if I did not tell her who I was working with…there was no way she would do the same things to her own _daughter_!"

Eleanor remained silent. Her brows knit together. Her eyes were dark.

Catalina's expression fell. "She didn't…"

Eleanor turned her back.

Catalina sat down at the helm of the boat. "I…I am so sorry, Eleanor…I-"

"I'll ask you one more time, Catalina…" Eleanor's voice was deathly calm. "What are you doing on this boat?"

Catalina pursed her lips. "Hiding. From the other Big Sisters. Dr. Lamb sent them to recapture me after I escaped."

Eleanor, her arms still crossed in indignation, appeared mildly interested. "How long ago was this?"

"About…six days ago, I think…" Catalina bit her lip. "A little hard to tell time down here, but I think it was about that long."

The Commander made a break for the hatch. Jack grabbed him with one arm, his full attention on Catalina's story.

"And you just…happened upon a downed U.S. Navy submarine?" Eleanor raised an eyebrow without even looking at the Commander.

"Ummm…not exactly…" Catalina looked guilty. "I was swimming along the path that the Big Sisters usually took – I did not know if any other route lead to shore after all. But I ran into some of the other Big Sisters, and they began to attack me. At first, it was just with harpoons, but then they began to use plasmids. I did not think that one could even generate fire underwater, but I was not about to stop and explain the laws of physics to my pursuers."

"Still waiting for the part about the submarine we're in…" Eleanor tapped her foot.

"I am getting to that," Catalina held her hands up. "Anyway, at first I manage to hide behind this, uh…undersea cliff…how you say, continental shelf? But they find me of course, and I just barely manage to dodge their plasmids. The _Betelgeuse_ must have been in the area and detected the commotion, because suddenly there is a torpedo coming at us. The Sisters…did not take kindly to that. They turned their attention to the submarine, and they brought it down in a matter of minutes."

Commander Jacobson, arm still locked in Jack's iron grip, pointed an accusing finger at Catalina. "See? I knew it was you!" He pointed at Eleanor, and Jack and back at Catalina. "I knew it was you all along!"

"Commander," Jack said sympathetically. "I know you've been through a lot over the past few days, but neither of these girls nor myself are in any way affiliated with the Soviet Union."

"Oh yeah?" Jacobson retorted. "Then how come they got Russian accents?"

"I beg your pardon," Eleanor straightened up. "But I have an _English_ accent, thank you very much!"

"And just because I was born in Russia does not make me a Soviet sympathizer," Catalina assured him. "You are American born, da? There are many Ruski's who have immigrated to your country over the years."

"That was _before_ your country started spreading communism all over the world!"

"Can we get back on track, please?" Eleanor rolled her eyes. "What do you know about the Splicers on board?"

"_That_ was a surprise," Catalina admitted. "When I first came on board, the sailors wanted to take me prisoner. I did not know if I could trust them, so I did not cooperate. I had to resort to sneaking around and hiding in the cargo area, and that's where I found the Adam."

Jack and Eleanor both stiffened. "Adam?"

Catalina turned her attention to Commander Jacobson. "Apparently, the USS _Betelgeuse_ had been sent to investigate the Bermuda Triangle, is that correct Commander?"

The Commander simply remained silent with his arms crossed, but his expression confirmed her query.

"It would seem that they stumbled across a specimen of Adam and took a sample for study," Catalina theorized. "It was a very rich sample too. For such a small slug, it kept me supplied with Adam for days."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "You mean…?"

Jack released his hold on the Commander. "You _harvested_ it!"

Catalina's expression was that on incredulity. "But of course. I was not about to let the surface world get their hands on it. Besides, I needed every advantage I could get."

Jack and Eleanor exchanged a look.

"What?" Catalina looked concerned.

"Catalina…" Jack said gravely. "Eleanor and I had a theory…you said the Adam was rich for being such a small sample, right?"

Catalina nodded. "Yes, very potent. Probably the highest concentration of Adam I have ever held in my hands at one time."

Jack took a breath. "Catalina…why do you think the sample you found was so enriched? This is a nuclear submarine. The engines have failed. They're probably leaking radiation. There's never been a documented case for the effects of radiation on Adam. But you've been down here for six days – surely you can feel the Adam permeating this wreck? The crew has been slowly driven mad from it all!"

Catalina stared at her hands as if she'd been poisoned. "So the Adam that I harvested…was radioactive?"

Eleanor frowned. "That's our theory at any rate. We haven't gotten a good look at the engines, but to be perfectly frank, as soon as the Splicers began to pop up, we were pretty set on abandoning ship. Already the irradiated Adam on this boat has probably had a few negative effects on Jack and I."

Catalina's face looked haunted. "So why have I not I felt any of the effects? I have been sucking this stuff up for almost a week now. Not just from the specimen in the cargo hold, but from the Splicers too! Should I not feel…ill or something?"

"When's the last time you've had anything to eat?" Jack asked. "Or had a decent night's sleep?"

Catalina shrugged. "I catch a few winks here and there. I scrounged the galley for food a few days ago, and I still have a few cans left. I have not hungered. I have been taking care of myself."

"That's one thing you're good at," Eleanor rolled her eyes.

Catalina just pursed her lip, looking hurt.

"So you're the one who emptied out our larder?" Jacobson grumbled. "Typical."

"People!" Jack said loudly. "Focus! As far as we know, the four of us may be the only sane people left on this boat…" he shot a glance at Commander Jacobson. "And I use that term loosely. But regardless of how we feel about each other, we need each other's help if any of us want to see daylight again."

The Commander crossed his arms. "I don't see how I need help from any of you! I just want you all off my boat!"

"While you die with the ship?" Eleanor demanded. "Commander, with all due respect, your boat is down, your crew is lost, and your mission is a complete failure. You should be worrying more about saving your own life and the lives of as many of us civilians as you can!"

Jacobson hung his head. He looked tired.

Eleanor turned to Jack. "I say we go back to the original plan, and leave this sorry wreck behind us."

"Wait!" Catalina protested. "Jack said you were good with machines! Can you do nothing to fix this boat?"

Eleanor threw Jack a look and wondered what else he had divulged to her old friend about her. "Possibly…but why should I? The engine room is an unsafe environment that could potentially melt our skin off with too much exposure."

"Do you know nothing?" Catalina asked. "These dive suits are designed to contain Adam enhanced bodies within them. They would certainly be insulated from a bit of nuclear radiation, and certainly from a _U.S._ sub of all things…no offense, Jack."

"None taken," Jack rolled his eyes.

Eleanor thought about that. She shook her head. "Even if I could get the engines started again, the ship is filling with gallons of water every minute. There's no way we could get her floating again."

"What if you heated the water into steam, like you did with Sinclair's submersible?" Jack offered. "I'm sure between the three of us, we have enough Adam to do it."

Eleanor pursed her lip. She had told Jack about how she escaped from Rapture while they had been marching under the sea. She did not like having her own plans thrown back at her, however.

"But even so, the boat is crawling with Splicers," she protested. "We'd have to fend them all off at every second. We wouldn't have a spare moment to concentrate on repairing the _Betelgeuse_."

There was a pause.

"Suppose I held them off for you?"

Everyone turned to look at Commander Jacobson.

"You, Sir?" Jack asked.

"I thought we were part of the 'Evil Communist Empire' you have been so diligently fighting?" Catalina asked, ironically.

"Maybe you are…maybe you aren't…" Jacobson reached into an overhead compartment and plucked out an officer's cap and pulled it onto his head. "But if you're telling me you can get this old lady running again, and maybe give me and my boys a chance to see the sun again after all this time…" he offered a weak smile and stood up straight – or as straight as he could on the slanted surface of the sub. "I'd have to be a fool not to lend a hand. We can worry about who's on whose side afterward."

There was another pause.

"That's…very much appreciated, Sir…" Jack said. "But how exactly do you plan on staving off an entire submarine crew's worth of Splicers?"

"Yes," Catalina mused. "No offense, Sir…but you are just one man."

Jacobson crossed his arms. "I may be just one man, but this here is _my_ baby girl…" He patted the bulkhead affectionately. "And she's still got a few tricks up her sleeve."

"Wait!" Eleanor protested. "I haven't agreed to this yet! Why do we even _need_ this sub?"

Catalina smiled at her. "Torpedoes hit a lot harder than harpoons and plasmids, Eleanor."

Jack shrugged. "She's right. The _Betelgeuse_ will get us to our destination much faster than walking. Remember that impassable wall on the outside? And if we're going to hit Rapture, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a U.S. Navy submarine on our side. We need all the firepower we can get."

"I _was_ going to use her to try and escape," Catalina ran a hand through her short blond hair. "But getting retribution on Dr. Lamb sounds _much_ more appealing."

"Besides," Jack reasoned. "If we can get the rest of these sailors to Dr. Tenenbaum's hospital, there's a chance they can be treated. Don't they deserve that much at least?"

Eleanor frowned. She did not like this one bit. First of all, she was not at all positive that she could even get the boat running again, or how effective it would be if she did. She was not inclined to risk her and Jack's lives on what could very easily be a futile attempt. And as confident as Catalina was that their suits could keep them safe, she didn't exactly trust her - especially seeing as how, according to her story, Catalina had remained cooped up in this sunken ship for a week's time without even checking to see if the coast was clear enough for her to swim to shore.

Whatever Catalina's reasons for being down here, Eleanor was convinced that she wasn't just hiding from Mother.

And then there was the way Jack kept siding with Catalina. Was Eleanor just imagining it? Was she just being unreasonable? Was Catalina actually making good suggestions that Jack agreed with because they were good ideas? Was Eleanor just mistrusting of anything Catalina said, and apt to disapprove of any suggestion she made?

Or did those stolen glances between Catalina and Jack mean something else?

"Jack?" Eleanor said. "May I…speak with you, for a second?"

Jack looked at her oddly. "Where? Out there, with the Splicers?"

Eleanor sighed. She'd rather deal with Splicers right now than this unstable ship's captain and her turncoat childhood friend.

"Yes, out there with the Splicers…" she said, sardonically.

Jack glanced at the other occupants of the bridge. "Would you excuse us for a moment…"

Eleanor opened the hatch and they walked out into the hallway that led towards the rest of the sub. There was not a Splicer in sight. Jack sealed the hatch.

"I know what you're thinking…" Jack sighed.

"Oh really?" Eleanor quipped. "Do enlighten me."

Jack winced. "Well, if that's the way you feel about it, maybe I don't know what you're thinking…"

"Maybe you don't," Eleanor pursed her lips. "Jack, where exactly did you run into Catalina?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Pretty much right where I fell through the lower deck. I thought she was you at first, so I called out to her."

Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Great. That's really encouraging."

"How was I supposed to know there'd be another Big Sister on board?" Jack crossed his arms. "She thought I was a Big Daddy at first, but we…got it cleared up. And her story sounds believable enough to me."

Eleanor crossed her arms, making a disgusted face. "I can't believe you're just going to trust her like that!"

Jack smiled. "I said her story sounds believable, not that I trust her."

She pursed her lip. "It sure sounds to _me _like you trust her."

"Eleanor, I trust _you_," Jack sighed. "And _you _clearly don't trust her, so that's reason enough for me not to trust her regardless of what she says to me."

Eleanor smiled ironically. "Oh really?"

Jack winked. "I may watch out for a lot of Little Sisters, but there's only room in my life for _one_ Big Sister at the moment…"

Eleanor blinked. And blushed. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Jack chuckled and tussled her hair.

She squirmed away, grunting. "Jack!"

"Come on, let's get back in there before those two start killing each other…" Jack said, opening the hatch, not waiting for Eleanor to stop him.

"But-" she started, but he was already through the hatch.

"-can assume your radio is out of commission as well," Catalina was saying to Commander Jacobson.

"I've been broadcasting SOS signals nonstop since we crashed," he bemoaned, sitting at the helm, his expression forlorn, but his posture still that of a confident captain. "Nothing."

"Our long range radio is out too," Jack mentioned, getting their attention.

Eleanor suddenly had a realization. "What…of course! Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

The other three watched her in confusion as she fastened her helmet into place. She punched into Dr. Tenenbaum's radio frequency that she had used to contact Eleanor on Sinclair's lifeboat. "Dr. Tenenbaum, come in Dr. Tenenbaum, do you copy?"

Static.

"You…you have a long range radio in your helmet?" Jack asked incredulously.

Eleanor repeated her message to Tenenbaum. "Please respond!" she turned off the microphone. "How could I have been so stupid?"

There was only static.

"Umm…" Catalina raised a hand. "I do hate to be the bearer of bad news…but I was just about to explain to the good Commander here that his radio is not broken. But he won't be hearing back from anyone anytime soon."

All eyes turned to Catalina.

"Jack, Eleanor, yours will not either, though your devices are probably working just fine," Catalina explained. "The signal is simply not getting out."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

She held up her own Big Sister helmet. "The one I stole stopped getting a signal about a day ago. It happened twice, first when I escaped Rapture about a week ago. It was jammed for several days, until it simply started receiving again about two days ago. I found it odd, however useless as I had nobody to call even if I wanted to. Then, sometime the night before last, the signal disappeared once more. The only conclusion I have been able to draw is that Dr. Lamb is somehow jamming it."

Jacobson's eyes lit up. "But…that must mean that some of my SOS got through!"

Catalina smiled at him. "Yes, that is a possibility. Though the fact that nobody has responded is troubling…"

Jacobson chewed on the inside of his cheek.

Eleanor removed her helmet. "It must be Mother's doing. The timeframe fits perfectly with the duration she was on the surface for."

Catalina blinked. "You brought Dr. Lamb to the surface?"

Eleanor sighed. "Briefly. My father gave his life to let me and the Little Sisters escape, and Mother got dragged along with us. Jack showed up in his plane to give us a lift, but a storm hit us and we crash-landed near Bermuda. That's where we ran into the Big Daddy whose suit Jack is using. And now here we are."

Catalina put her arms around Jack's shoulders and smiled at him. "Well, aren't you just the big hero?"

Jack looked uncomfortable. Eleanor bristled. "Hey!"

Catalina pouted at her. "What's the problem, Eleanor?" She put her cheek against Jack's "I don't see your name on him."

Jacobson snickered.

Jack skillfully liberated himself from the Russian girl's grasp, the look on his face that of one who deeply did not wish for the ire of either girl in the room. "Say, Catalina…" he said, a little too quickly. "Do you know if Dr. Lamb has anything that might let her control the weather?"

Catalina gave her most innocent look to Eleanor. "As a matter of fact, she does…"

Eleanor said nothing, but gave Catalina only a bitter look in return.

"She does?" Jack said, not truly expecting such a definite answer.

"Indeed…" she smiled, flirtatiously. "You can ask your father about the specifics, _Master _Ryan."

"My father is dead," Jack said coldly. "I killed him with my own hands."

Catalina blinked. So did Eleanor. They both knew the proprietor of Rapture was deceased, but neither knew it had been Jack who did the deed.

"Oh…" Catalina said, removing her foot from her mouth. "Well…it was his invention that allowed this. Located around Rapture are refineries that pump hot and cold gas up to the surface, which allowed him to manipulate the weather around the Bermuda Triangle, and dissuade surfacers from investigating too closely, as our resident submarine captain will attest to."

Commander Jacobson scratched his head. "I don't know anything about this Rapture, but we've been getting countless reports of mysterious disappearances in this area of the Atlantic. My orders stated simply to explore the Bermuda Triangle and uncover anything suspicious."

Jack smiled at him, anxious to get away from the death glare the girls were giving each other. "Well, Commander…you just might get that chance. Are you ready to get the USS _Betelgeuse_ up and running again?"

"You bet your ass I am, son," Jacobson laughed. "Though it'll be a miracle if this little lady can pull it off!"

Catalina slinked catlike next to Eleanor and slid her arm around her shoulder. "This little lady has more surprises up her sleeve than anyone you've ever met before!"

Eleanor shoved her away, grumbling incoherencies.

Jack laughed uncomfortably. "Well, we've still got a horde of Splicers against us, plus an unstable nuclear engine and the threat of radioactive Adam, not to mention Dr. Lamb, her army of Big Sisters and Daddies and pretty much all of Rapture lying in wait for us…"

"Well, when you put it that way, it all sounds rather simple, really," Eleanor shook her head with an ironic smile. "What could possibly go wrong?"


End file.
